Advanced payments were made to Durham by the ECB in May 2016 to ensure the club could carry on playing.

The monies related to fees for staging the Sri Lanka Test later that month.

"Talks continue with the ECB in relation to securing a long-term future," a Durham statement read.

The county finished fourth in County Championship Division One.

It would need a deduction of 46 or more points to push Durham into a relegation place, thus either reprieving eighth-placed Hampshire from relegation, or giving Division Two runners-up Kent a pathway to the upper tier.

Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove told BBC Radio Solent: "I think that if they're penalised, that relegation is the right move for them.

"I don't want to see the back of Durham. I've got no problem with the ECB doing what they need to do to support the situation.

"I do feel, though, that any of us that played Durham when they were being supported were at a disadvantage."

Ben Stokes (centre) is Durham's highest-profile player, though he is centrally contracted by England

Durham installed floodlights at their Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street in 2015, to bring the venue up to standard for the 2019 World Cup where it will be one of 10 host venues.